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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- ipayment223@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ipayment223@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2017 09:23:47 +0100
Subject: ATTENTION.
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON , D.C.,
UNITED STATES.
Urgent Attention,
I am Mrs. CHRISTINE LAGARDE, Chairman International Monetary Fund (IMF).Our team of experts were delegated to Africa for this task and we discovered your File NO: BR227/9005666/00 as unclaimed fund. The United States Department of Treasury has retrieved all Files of illegal transactions and we will be working under a legitimate arrangement to ensure that you follow the normal process to receive your fund Fifteen Million Dollars ($15M) as part of your compensation from United Nations .
Following series of complains from Citizens which has made it impossible for a lot of People to claim their Winning or Inheritance funds from most African Countries due to illegal activities, A decision was reached recently by the United States Treasury Department under the authority of the White House to compel African Financial bodies (Banks) to urgently release all funds that are trapped in most Banks in Africa. It was discovered that your representative in Ghana claimed that you are dead so that they will fraudulently divert those funds to their private accounts. Please confirm if you are dead or alive to avoid payment to wrong person.
Consequent upon the aforementioned You are requested to Re-confirm the following information to John Duggan by e-mail:
1. SURNAME.........................
2. OTHER NAMES......................
3. PHONE NUMBER ................
4. ADDRESS..........................
5. AMOUNT: $15.500,000.00 USD
We shall ensure that normal process is followed to ensure that your fund gets to you without delay. Contact John Duggan who is Bank Director. e-Mail below: ipayment223@gmail.com . urgent attention Call John Duggan on this phone: +233267816195
Warm Regards
Mrs.Christine Lagarde
IMF CHAIRMAN.
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Anti-fraud resources:
